Temperature and rainfall information for stations in Antarctica.
These are the three areas that are most requested. McMurdo (USA)
is the most populated, the South Pole (USA) for obvious geographical
reasons and Vostok (Russia) as it is near the Pole of inaccessibility,
the furthest place from the ocean in any direction.

McMurdo is a coastal station
and so is influenced by the sea. Once the winter pack ice starts
to form and the sun disappears beyond the horizon, the temperature
really starts to drop. The reappearance of the sun causes the
temperature to rise rapidly again.

*Rainfall figures - precipitation
is given as rainfall equivalent, i.e. the amount that would
have fallen had it fallen as rain and not snow. Actual liquid
rain is very rare in Antarctica.

Climate data for
the American Amundsen-Scott station at the South Pole - Continental
High PlateauData range from 1957 to 1988; Latitude: 90°S; Longitude:
0

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Year

Average daily temperature °C

- 28.2

- 40.9

- 54

- 57.3

- 57

- 58

- 59.7

- 60

- 59.4

- 51.1

- 38.3

- 27.5

- 49.4

Mean daily max °C

- 25.9

- 38.1

- 50.3

- 54.2

- 53.9

- 54.4

- 55.9

- 55.6

- 55.1

- 48.4

- 36.9

- 26.5

- 45.4

Mean daily min °C

- 29.4

- 42.7

- 57

- 61.2

- 61.7

- 61.2

- 62.8

- 62.5

- 62.4

- 53.8

- 40.4

- 29.3

- 49.3

The temperature at the South Pole
station consists of 6 months when it is fairly stable from April
to September. After this, there is a 3 month period where the
temperature rises to a peak and then drops again. This corresponds
to light and dark. When it is permanently dark, the temperature
is very stable. As the sun rises higher in the sky and has more
heating power, so the temperature rises. After the longest day,
December 21st, the sun falls again and so does the temperature.

Climate data for the Russian
Vostok station at the southern geomagnetic pole - Continental
High Plateau
Data range from 1957 to 1988; Latitude: 78.45°S; Longitude:
106.80°E

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Year

Average daily temperature °C

- 32.1

- 44.3

- 57.9

- 64.7

- 65.6

- 65.2

- 66.9

- 67.6

- 66

- 57.1

- 43.3

- 32.1

- 55.1

Mean monthly rainfall mm

0.1

0

0.7

0.5

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.3

0.2

0.1

0

Annual total 4.5

Vostok is at the Southern
Geomagnetic Pole. It is close to the Pole of Inaccessibility,
the point on the Antarctic continent that is the furthest from
any other and so the most difficult or inaccessible place to
get to. It is inland and on the high Antarctic ice plateau making
it the coldest and most inhospitable place in the world.

Look at those rainfall figures
too, total of 4.5mm a year! - 1/5th of an inch.

In cold conditions it never
actually rains. The figures given are "rainfall equivalent"
how much water would be produced if the snow that falls were
melted.

If you want to translate these figures into degrees
Fahrenheit, the data tables can be copied and dropped into an
Excel spreadsheet and this formula applied: